Talk:Theodor Eberbach/@comment-25228560-20160401050819/@comment-24663971-20160403051154
It's great that you are passionate about the plot enough to debate it like this, but by no means is it right to say that certain plot elements or character actions had "no reason" in the course of Schwarzesmarken. I'm not saying Uchida or Kouki or any writer out there is perfect, and there are plenty of things to critique them on (Like Katia's lack of involvement at all in the plot, the lack of significance Anett had despite her continued survival, etc), but many of your complaints are simply personal interpretations of the characters that, while are totally fair to make, are being created based around a 1-cour anime that has nowhere near the same depth as the original light novel adaptation and the visual novel adaptations. I agree that the story could still be interesting and complex if certain characters had lived instead of died, but I don't see the current adaptation any weaker for their deaths. The story was well rounded overall, in my opinion, and pushed the envelope with dark themes and questionable acts that a lot of people aren't comfortable with. Kudos to the author for doing something that, at least in this genre, is very rarely seen. Lise's death served a variety of purposes in a narrative sense. You prove that it is a controversial act to execute someone, but in war it can be a sad reality that people face. Like I said on Lise's page, bad things happen to good people. It sucks what she went through, and even if she hadn't of been raped or tortured, being executed by your adopted brother would suck regardless. But that doesn't make it shallow writing; her death was a very important element in furthering Theodor's character, as well as moving the plot into the final stages. In the Light Novel there was no theoretical room given to let Lise live; she ''was ''captured, but given the atrocities she committed and the civil war already in effect, there was no time for a trial nor would she have had much luck there either. This isn't just a narrative device, as a situation like this is very realistic to imagine. They have Theodor execute her to prove his loyalty, going to show that the rebels aren't simply the good guys but they are willing to commit atrocities right back. And for the record, Katia tried to stop the execution but was too late, yet again showing her weakness of being unable to help and forever remaining a bystander to these events. (a character flaw that was never resolved, which is a no no considering she was a protagonist; another critique for the author from me). In a perfect world she would have been "saved" and given the treatment she needed, but Schwarzesmarken didn't set out to write a feel good story like that. It was the 1980's, set in one of the most repressive countries in the world, beset on all sides by enemies and with an ever fading glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel. The characters did what they had to to reach that light, but they lost a lot along the way. Given the way Europe ends up, some might even ask "Was it all worth it?" And that is the story's brilliance; everyone could see the writing on the wall, and yet they fought to make their ideals a reality anyway, knowing how futile the civil war was, how it was inevitable the BETA would overrun them. And in it there is an argument of pragmatism versus idealism, one of the central themes of the story; something we see constantly, embodied in the fight between Beatrix and Irisdina.